By Rev. Kevin Slayton Sr.
Special to the AFRO
There’s an old saying that says you can judge a society based on its treatment of its children and seniors. Annie E. Casey Foundation’s recent Kids Count Data Book, which shows a stark racial distinction facing children in the state of Maryland, reveals that the progress we’ve sought as a city and a community to address equity is more than lacking.
According to the data, Maryland ranks 22nd among states for overall child well-being. Overall, the data suggests that we are failing to prepare the next generation to take on productive roles in the future workforce. Black and Brown children who live in areas described as high-poverty communities, in particular, are deemed to be suffering the most. The data showed that 1-in-6 fourth-graders in 2022 were reading at or above proficiency, while only 25 percent of eighth-graders were at or above proficient in math. But in an academic ethos that generates its budgetary framework on the idea of “social promotion” this is to be expected. For when it comes to attendance, approximately one-third of students in the state were chronically absent in 2022. There are literally thousands of children in the Baltimore City Public School System who have missed more than 50 days and are still promoted to the next grade.
When one considers this reality, as it relates to academic preparation, the shocking study that exposed the overwhelming number of people of color, especially older Black men between the ages of 55 and 72, who fall prey to drug addiction should come as no surprise. This report, first shared in the New York Times, pointed to more than 6,000 people who have died in our city due to overdose. The staggering number should cause us all to pause and ask in the words of the late Marvin Gaye, “What’s going on?”
Both of these recent reports reveal that the issue of race and the socioeconomic conditions prevalent in our society still have a ways to go. It is to this backdrop that two local Protestant faith congregations have come together to participate in a Summer Book Club. The two churches are the Northwood-Appold United Methodist Church in East Baltimore and the Roland Park Presbyterian Church located on the west side of the city. Clearly the demographics and social make-up of the two faith communities are different. Yet, as members of the Christian faith they both believe in the concept of fairness and equity.
Under the leadership of the two pastoral leaders, the Revs. Mark Hanna and Dr. Kevin Slayton Sr., the two congregations are reading Heather McGhee’s book “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone And How We Can Prosper Together.” The first book discussion took place on June 12 in Druid Hill Park on the (literal) grounds of the old swimming pool.
In her book, McGhee looks at the national closing of local community pools as a result of integration. All across America in communities that were using “public funds” to resource swimming pools chose to drain them and fill them with concrete rather than share them with people of color. This zero-sum mentality is a major focus of the book and the topics discussed by those participating. The idea that “if things are getting better for Black people, it must be at the expense of White people” is what seems to continue to take root in the mind of so many Americans.
If the two most recent reports regarding the progress of Black children and the disturbing rates of older Black men dying from drug overdose is any indication of our progress then we should all be glad that there are faith institutions in our community willing to address the tough realities of our living.
Dr. Slayton said he hopes “what is demonstrated by our two congregations (one Black and one White) could be a match that will hopefully ignite in the pews of other congregations as well as the halls of policy making.” Rev. Hanna added: “Christian faith commands us to love our neighbor. And to love them we must first get to know them. And once we know them, we can’t refuse to care, because love requires us to act.”
The Rev. Dr. Kevin A. Slayton Sr. is pastor of Northwood Appold United Methodist Church, the campaign manager at Maryland Center on Economic Policy and an adjunct professor at Lancaster Theological Seminary.
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